106 AMERICAN OOLEOPTERA. 



The number of new forms described in the following pages is 

 sensibly equal to the number of old names retained as valid, and 

 raises the total number of species to above one hundred Large as 

 this total seems, it is still less than half the number catalogued from 

 the European fauna. We may infer from this that a considerable 

 number of new forms remain to be discovered, though it is likely 

 that when all are known we shall still fall far short of Europe in 

 this respect. 



As an example of the richness of the European fauna: from the 

 Netherlands alone — a l)it of country about equal in area to the 

 State of Maryland, and far less diversified in surface — Everts* 

 records no less than eighty-seven species ; while Bedel f enumerates 

 ninety-seven as inhabiting the basin of the Seine. 



The country about Washington, D. C, has doubtless been as 

 thoroughly explored as any limited area in the United States, and 

 here an area equal in size to the Netherlands, which would include 

 the country within a radius of about sixty-five miles of the city, 

 shows only twenty-five species. 



Not only are our species less numerous, they are also smaller on 

 the average, and lack entirely the brighter tints which adorn not a 

 few of their trans- Atlantic cousins. 



Before proceeding to a statement of generic characters, it seems 

 appropriate to pass briefly in review, in chronological order, the 

 species described up to the present time : 



1797. Herbst-Kiifer, VII, described nigrum. 



1826. Say, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., described rostrum, and in 

 1831 — Cure. - segnipes. Both are well-known species. 



1833. Gyllenhal, Sch. Cure, I, redescribed rostrum Say under the 

 name sayi. 



1839. Boheraan, Sch. Cure, V., described peiinsylvauicum and por- 

 mtum. The former is somewhat doubtfully, and the latter 

 certainly recognized. 



1839. Gyllenhal, Sch Cure, V, recoiuUtum, not recognized. 



1843. Mannerheim, Bull. Mosc, described troglodytes and cupres- 

 cens. The latter species, desoribed from Alaska, has not 

 yet been proved identical with any known to us, but there 

 are reasons for believing it to be the ieneous form of the 

 species later described by LeConte us procUve. 



•■• Budrage tot de Kennis der Apioniden-Tydschrift voor Entomologie, 1878. 

 f Fauiie des Coleopteres du Bassin de la Seine. 



